NASCAR Sears Point race bests F1 easily!!!

Oy veigh, I think hell has frozen over.

Granted the past few USGPs have been debacles due to either bad timing or just the fact that the Indianapolis facility is not suited for F-1. In any case, America and F-1 deserves better.

Ringers in NASCAR. About as absurd a notion as anything I've ever witnessed in racing. They give these three guys tons of pre-event publicity and it never fails that they get screwed by some arbitrary ruling on the track during the race, usually conveniently caught out by another in a series of unnecessary yellows.

In what other series in the world is a twenty minute caution period flown simply because a car slid off the track? Any other series in the world would throw a local caution until the car is righted and back on the track. But not in NASCAR. They're constantly interrupting the races with this type of nonsense. Why is this?

Never was this more apparent than it was two years ago when Ron Fellows qualified on the front row at the Watkins Glen NASCAR event. The ever increasing "phaontom yellow" periods screwed him again and again while the featured NASCAR driver of the weekend, Jeff Gordon, came up through the pack to take another melancholy win (completely scripted by officialdom).

As much a debacle as the USGP was this year, NASCAR is a debacle nearly every weekend and completely unwatchable. Two thirds of this year's World 600 at Charlotte was run under caution in what amounted to little more than a demolition derby. Thus, the pace car (which is the most technically advanced car on any NASCAR track) led the most laps.

Next thing we know, we're going to be hearing what a great sport professional wrestling is in here.

BHW

 

Nothing will beat F1 seasons '93-'96....
I do not bother to watch F1 anymore and haven't followed up for the past 2 yrs. All the drivers are amatuer and its just not interesting. Schumacher should retire, because frankly nobody has the experience he has. Back in '93 it would be Senna, Hill, Mansell, Prost, Schumacher and Patrese all in the top 6, ahead of the grid by several seconds... That was entertainment..but now there is nobody with equal skill to MS, and even if there was, you'd need atleast 6 or 8 to make it entertaining as it used to be.


As far Nascar... I will never give it the time of day... I am aware of how difficult it can be, but its not worth watching on tele. Perhaps its better live, but otherwise I dont see why it is so hyped... The USGP really isn't much of anything great in the F1 season. Highlighted races are usually: Melbourne (since its the first round), Monte Carlo, Spa (if they still raced there), Hockenhiem, and Suzuka. Estoril, in Portugal is also a highlighted GP, but they obviously do not attend anymore. Thats another thing, they've stopped going to the tracks that people love...people watch just to see the track. Spa for example. if monte carlo gets knocked off the schedule, then F1 will be in trouble.

 

Rob

I am 100% with you on this one. I also feel the same way as you on NASCAR however I did watch yesterdays road race and found it to be great racing. Watching Tony Stewart stalk Rudd during the last 15 laps and then finally pass him in turn 11 was some great stuff. I believe that TS and Jeff Gordon are much better drivers than the rest of the field however I think that they have decieded to take the money and run by competing in NASCAR. I have not doubt that either of them would be winners in any sort of racing that they wanted to compete in. Based on yesterdays race I plan on watching the next road coarse race at Watkins Glen.

 

Well, I saw a show where Jeff Gordan took out a Williams BMW, and he couldn't handle it as precise... When you're in motorsports, you become imune to your tier, so to speak... and to say he could be succuessful in any sort of racing wouldn't be fair... Look at Zanardi, he broke a leg....Now is driving some Toca cars i think?.. Zanardi practically dominated in Cart, same with De Matta...but both haven't shown any performance in Formula 1. De Matta was very optimistic about performing well, and his thoughts were that F1 is no bigger, a game, than Cart....obviously he was mistaken.
But Nascar is much different from either - so its not fair to say Gordon would be a 'winner' in even Cart...
But from what I saw on that show when he drove Montoya's Williams, he would need several practice hrs just to stay on the track...not even win

 

Juan Pablo comes to mind driving #24 during "Trading Paint" stating that it handled like a POS.

The races leading up to a GP are normally fought with more action and more entertainment than the actual GP. Always has been that way: I remember Renault 5 cup cars driving each other off the road in Hockenheim just like the 360 Challenge cars did it this year in Montreal. Whereas F1 is rather civilized in comparison. NASCAR is similar to that in regards to a mixed field of driver talent and cars of similar performance. That makes for entertaining racing, no question.

However F1 it is not. For better or worse. Depending on whom you talk to.

PS: The thing that amazes me about you Rob is your statement of having watched hundreds of F1 races yet still haven't gotten the bug. To each his own I suppose.

 

Rob, I sorta disagree!

I saw parts of the Sears Point race yesterday. The frequent yellows killed all interest for me. Also, the cars looked pretty slow thru lapping the circuit. Besides a lot of the top runners seemed to have gearbox issues preventing an exciting challenge.

Another gripe is that it is more of an endurance race than a real race. Most of the interest seems to be in pit strategy than in the real racing on-track

However, the pass of Tony Stewart on Ricky Rudd was neatly executed and smooth. Tony Stewart was really awesome on the Hairpin (Turn 11?)

The Rolex Sports Car / Grand Am race at Sears Point is far more exciting to me.

 

The ONLY NASCAR races I watch these days are the Daytona 500 (because of its perceived importance) and the two road-course races. I wish they would add at least one more road-course race here in the south; why not Road Atlanta? (The vintage stock cars already run there.)

Don't forget, NASCAR's "heritage" comes from moonshine runners trying to escape revenue agents--on the road! To me, the road courses are the true heritage of NASCAR.

 

NASCAR running at Road Atlanta is about as conceivable as the ALMS running at Daytoner. Dr. Panoz, please meet Mr. France? LOL.

As for the Sears Point event, I did not watch it due to the many reasons outlined above but, certainly, anyone knowing basic racing rules realizes that
a local yellow is used when a car goes off course without contact, not a 20 minute full course caution.

Racing in general has a lot of house cleaning to do. It is only when we lose a driver that we see how small the racing community really is. The sanctioning bodies must return to the pure form of the sport and not bend to the commericial interests for all of the pre-event hype (which no race can possibly live up to) and "the show" which NASCAR has totally become.

And, as for Zanardi, he actually lost both legs in a shunt at the
Lausitzring with Alex Tagliani and he walks now with prosthetics. He competes for BMW in the FIA Touring Car Series with an articulated driving device in the steering wheel much the same as Jason Watt in the Danish Touring Cars for Peugeot.

BHW

 

The NASCAR Searpoint race was very entertaining and in conjunction with a dose of F1 Decade on Speed helped purge that nasty Michelin taste in my mouth. I used to run Sears Point with the Northern California Shelby Club and took my Skip Barber (before they moved to Laguna) school there are well. Sears Point sits at the southern end of Sonoma wine country with great places to stay, food and wine. The track is also home to some of the best racecar development shops, restoration shops, and memorabilia stores (Wine Country Motorsports) shops on the west coast. Lots of fond memories….

From the business standpoint, NASCAR consistently entertains a huge market and has not been torn apart by the egos and greed that have irreparably damaged CART, IMSA, and possibly F1. I’m a road racer at heart and watch very little NASCAR, but I’d rather watch moonshine runners driving in circles than the off-track ego drama provided by Bernie, Max and their puppets who don’t seem to care about the sponsors, fans or investors.

Sorry for the rant….

 

this year, the nascar busch series went down to mexico and had a road race. and this race was surprisingly good opn cautions compared to what it normally is. they had many cars spin and didnt call caution. and about the ringers not winning because of stupid things they are not used to, thats complete bs. the drivers that beat them such as tony stewart and jeff gordon are great road racers, and it comes down to a fact that people such as ron fellows arent as used to the cars, they dont get put in with the best teams, making thier cars less than perfect for even a nascar, and w/ some of these trans-am racers arent as used to how much banging around they do in nascar. imho, i believe many of you would like some of these nascar races but refuse to give it the time of day. and for more road races, nascxar is talking about having a road racing in canada, possibly at the f1 circuit in montreal, and i think they will start with more road races, because people are starting to like road racing better, adn there is a future in it...

 

I'm sorry but i hated 94 for obvious reasons, and 95 and 96 were pretty boring to me, but that's just me. I like anything from the 80's on down.

 

and for those of you that dont know, the transmissions they use are made to be power shifted... they are specialized for that. the transmission problems werent trasmission problems, but shift-linkage problems, and thats why cars like gordon got back out in about 5 minutes... and the winner had a transmission problem too, he was driving 1 handed the whole race, because it would slip out of gear if he took his hand off the shifter..

 

Don't get me wrong, BUT ......

I have been to Montreal, Indy and Monza for F1 and had fun -- though I must admit, one time to Indy was enough - absolutely no reason to go there other than F1 -- the city and area really is the pits.

Now, I'll watch NASCAR when they run on road courses ANYTIME. I just wish I had been at Sears Point this weekend. My God, heavy cars slamming and banging all around a track with left and right turns -- WOW. (Actually, there were a lot of clean passes too). Pretty damned impressive if you ask me.

Now, if we could only get NASCAR to run some more road courses, like at Mid-Ohio, Laguna Seca (can you imagine what the Corkscrew would look like???!!!), Seattle International Raceways (now Pacific Raceways), or Portland International. For that matter, why not NASCAR at Montreal? The Canadians would love it.

Other races that are fun are vintage racing -- especially at both Sears Point and Laguna Seca with Trans-Am and Can-Am cars along with the usual suspects -- even though not hard-core full-out racing it still is pretty awe inspiring to see and hear those beasts being muscled around.

Mark

 

When youre used to watching technology (such as F-1) which is able to accelerate from 0 to 100MPH and back to 0 in the time it takes a NASCAR car to change into third gear, watching these tractors on a road course is completely uninteresting.

Other forms of stock car racing such as the Australian V8 feature silhouette
cars, the way NASCAR used to be, and this series is everything NASCAR should be. I hear it again and again, if NASCAR was to revert to a silhouette
formula once again, a lot of people would gravitate back and give it a look.

However, the series is so watered down now, even the organizers are more concerned about "The Show" and this "good guy vs. bad guy" professional wrestling soap opera mentality than the sport and the actual racing has become secondary.

As for the "ringers", lets see one win a Cup race once, just once. It will never happen as the cry already is that the "ringers" are jeopordizing the championship chances of the full time drivers. If (say) Fellows, Said or Pruett
actually won in Cup, there would be a meltdown in the NASCAR community.

Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart, yes very talented guys making $40M a year
selling their trinkets and junk items, in a championship that pays $1M. Ecclestone should be bending over backwards to get Gordon into F-1, it would have been the marketing move of the century.

BHW

 

It's always been about the racing for me, as much as i love the sight and sound of an F1 car flying around a circuit, to me the racing it what makes it exciting. F1 has become very processional with most of the passing done in the pits. It's refreshing to see guys going for it on the track not that pits. This is real racing not a parade, in my opinion.

 

Two absolutely brilliant statements! Bravo!

 

The only problem is the cars themselves...they are just not very interesting. Great racing is available in a number of venues if you don't care about the cars, but I'd much rather watch GrandAm or Speed Touring/GT than NASCAR. And F1 can't be beat for sheer spectacle, and really the sound alone is worth the price of admission. A great race is just frosting.

Gary

 

I thought a great race was the whole point, but again that's just me. You are right though the cars are not that interesting and i wonder if there is anyway to solve the problem of F1 cars not being able to run too close to each because of aero and and that BS. I wonder why a champcar doesn't have the same issue, the aero is kinda similar.

 

"nascxar is talking about having a road racing in canada, possibly at the f1 circuit in montreal, and i think they will start with more road races, because people are starting to like road racing better, adn there is a future in it..."

I have heard that aswell, although I have heard speculation that Nascar might not go on the same course as F1, as they like to be the number 1 spectacle when they put on a race. Lapping a course 40 seconds behind another race series will not make them the number 1 spectacle.

 

Since the last thing that was even close to "stock" on a "stock" car--the body shape--is no longer "stock", I think the sanctioning body needs to change its name:

The
National
Association for
Funny
Car
Auto
Racing